Leann Ross - Proprietress

Email: info@forbiddenfiberco.com

Studio phone: (901) 296-5158

I'm a third generation fiber artist.  It's almost as if yarn and fiber are a part of my DNA.  My mother's uncle taught her to knit, and she taught me.  The passion for crafting was instilled in me at a young age, sitting in my mom's craft store after preschool soaking up the beautiful materials of all different colors.  Summertime boredom meant trips to the garage where her stock was stored and constant discoveries of something new to make.  However, it always came back to knitting for me.

From knitting, came spinning and learning to design my own yarn based on the project.  I wanted to create with it.  I was driven to learn about the individual characteristics of various yarns, ranging from breed of sheep to refining processes to even blending different fibers together.  Starting with some Romney wool and primary colors, I embarked on the venture that has become Forbidden Fiber Co.  After spending a year designing and knitting a wedding dress, I needed a new challenge.  I bought a few cross stitch kits and away I went.  In 2020, we pivoted to dyeing embroidery threads and cross stitch fabrics, and now it's a major part of our day-to-day operations!

My motivation was the same then as it is now.  I wanted to tell a story with my yarn.

Over the past thirteen years at FFC, the stories I've been able to tell through yarn and fiber have been beyond my wildest dreams.  I've been so blessed to see this business grow from dyeing fiber on my dining room table and spinning it out in my washing machine in the basement, to working in a 3,500 square foot studio with five other talented women.

My favorite places to knit are in bed with a good show on the television, or poolside in the summer while my three kids, Logan (11), Noelle (9), and Genevieve (6) splash and play.  I'm a California native but have lived on both coasts, and also for a semester in Madrid, Spain!  In 2018, we relocated from Los Angeles to Memphis, TN to be be closer to my husband's family.  I miss Disneyland but am loving life in the country.

What I love most is my amazing team, without whom Forbidden Fiber Co. wouldn't be nearly what it is today.  Also, they kill flying bugs for me, which makes them *completely* indispensable.

Charity Harvey - Creative Supervisor

Charity does a little bit of everything!  She designs and dyes our project bags, makes stitchmarkers, progresskeepers, zipper pulls and pretty much anything else we dream up.  She dyes most of the floss and keeps track of everything that's needed for all our different coordinates our treasure troves, mystery boxes, and mystery kits.  She also directly supervises our junior team (known as "the boys") and helps keep things running smoothly from day to day.

Kelley King - Creative Coordinator

Kelley is our graphics designer extraordinaire!  She creates all our social media and website graphics and also our packaging, including all of our treasure troves, mystery boxes, and mystery kits.  She designs cross stitch patterns and handles all our printing.  She also is the mighty wielder of the Silhouette and sublimation machines.  Kelley also helps supervise the team to keep things running.

Felicia Rogers - Shipping Guru and Yarn Dyer

Felicia ships out the majority of our orders and dyes a lot of yarn, too!  She has recently began creating her own colorways, and they're so good, sometimes I wonder if I'm even needed around here anymore!  She also takes care of just about everyone who walks in the door at the FFC studio - from making sure you know where to find things to handling checkout.

Kimberly Blanchard - Production Assistant

Kimberly is our fabric guru!  She cuts and serges all of our cross stitch fabric and dyes a bunch of it, too!  She can sew just about anything, and makes all the pillows you see on cross stitch pattern covers.

Connie Sharp - Production Assistant

Connie is our newest team member, and she handles just about anything we can throw at her!  From ironing cross stitch fabric until she can't lift her arms, to carding floss, making stitchmarkers and progresskeepers, and helping out wherever she can, she's a wonderful addition to the team.

Evan Earnest and Easton Craig - Production Assistants, AKA "The Boys" 

Evan rinses yarn, floss, and fabric, cards floss, makes stitchmarkers, progresskeepers, zipper pulls, etc, and is a master vinyl weeder.  

Easton runs our skein winder and is responsible from winding yarn and floss off of cones into mini skeins ready for dyeing.  He occasionally helps rinse yarn and iron fabric, and also cards floss.  

Together, they punch holes in almost every floss card that leaves the studio.  They also take out the trash every Friday, which makes them my heroes.

Come see us Monday - Thursday 9-3, Fridays 9-2 7615 Hwy 51 S, Suite 101, Brighton, TN 38011  

For nights and weekends, call the studio for an appointment, or message Leann through the FB page.